After capturing his fourth straight girls Passaic County Championship, Wayne Hills coach Mike Shale opted for a celebratory belly-flop after being encouraged to do so by his team. (CHRIS MONROE/Special to The Record)

So, if you follow Varsity Aces on Twitter (who’s gonna be follower number 5,000???), you saw I tweeted out the highlights from Saturday’s Passaic County Championships last night. Consider this the extended version. Some records were broken (that’s you Meaghan O’Donnell, Sam Kauffman, Reid Hensen and the DePaul boys 200 Medley Relay), some history was made (that’s you Wayne Hills girls and DePaul boys) and I have plenty of leftover notes and tidbits that didn’t find their way into Sunday’s paper. By the way, this was the first swim meet I’ve ever attended, and I gotta say, it was pretty fun.

We’ll start off with the Wayne Hills girls, who I centered my preview around in Saturday’s Record, and the Patriots did a nice job of not making me look bad. For a few weeks now, coach Mike Shale said he thought this year’s county championship would be a little closer, a little more competitive than in years past, but… it really wasn’t.

Hills was in control from start to finish, winning comfortably with 375 points (next closest was Wayne Valley with 297), and freshman Sam Kauffman proved she is the real deal. In her first big meet of what looks to certainly be a promising career, she won two individual events and was a part of two relay-winning teams — the 200 Medley and 400 Freestyle. She broke the 50 Freestyle meet record with a lightning-quick 25.74, edging Erin Hackett‘s 25.92 set in 2011. She also just missed out on breaking the 100 Backstroke record, set by Wayne Valley’s Meaghan O’Donnell last year. Kauffman posted a 1:00.76; the record is 1:00.59. That record could be in danger over the next three years.

Speaking to Kauffman about halfway through the meet, after she broke the 50 Free record, I learned it was a new personal best for her, including her club times (she swims for the Wyckoff Sharks), and she was excited about coming in and making such an immediate impact for Wayne Hills. Her sister Sarah, 20, and brother Matt, 23, both swam for Shale in high school, so Kauffman is no stranger to the program. Matt and her father then came over and I asked them which Kauffman was the best swimmer? After a collective laugh, Matt admitted that Sam — at her age and at this stage in her career — is putting up the more impressive times. A passionate swimmer since the age of 4, Kauffman suffered a minor setback last year when she tore her labrum. She was out six months, but says she’s now fully recovered. And judging from Saturday’s performance, it sure seems like she’s 100 percent. Now I only wonder if she’s even gonna read this, considering she told me she never has been on Varsity Aces before.

But you don’t drop 375 points by yourself, as Kauffman certainly wasn’t alone in leading Wayne Hills to its fourth consecutive county title. The depth that Shale speaks so proudly of was on full display Saturday. Ilana Kleinfeld capped her illustrious county meet career with yet another title — her fourth straight. The senior leader was part of the 200 Medley and 400 Free Relay teams and took second in both the 100 Free (57.09) and 200 IM (2:22.38). She caught a bit of an unfortunate break being paired up in the same individual events as O’Donnell — who broke meet records in both events — but she didn’t seem too upset about that afterward.

“This means so much to me,” Kleinfeld said moments after the post-meet celebration. “We were so confident and I trusted my relay teams 100 percent. I’ve swam with them since fifth grade and I feel like a big sister to some of them. In the individual events, competing against someone like Meaghan [O'Donnell] is great competition for me. … I never expected a four-peat. To win this four years in a row is unbelievable. I had great seniors when I came in as a freshman and I try to be like that for the freshmen we have now. I love them. And we couldn’t have done this without them.”

Who else had big days for Hills? Well, Gabi Cancel took first in the 100 Breast (which I somehow managed to screw up in a tweet, saying she had won the Backstroke) with a time of 1:12.27, took third in the 200 Free and was also part of both winning-relay teams. … Liz Gokhman was part of the winning 200 Medley Relay, took 2nd in the 100 Fly and 5th in the 100 Breast. … Emma Cancel took fourth in both the 200 IM and 100 Fly and swam the second leg of the winning 400 Free Relay. … Victoria Mayer earned a pair of sixth place finishes in the 200 Free and 500 Free. … Brianna Baldenza took fourth in the 100 Fly. … And Wayne Hills had two ‘B’ teams place in the Top 6 in both the 200 Medley and 400 Free Relays. Shale is right; this team’s depth is remarkable. The Patriots got points from all over the place. “We stress the concept of ‘Team’ around here,” Shale said. “On our shirts, it’s nothing fancy on the back. It just says ‘Team.’ I don’t even need to say a lot to them. The upperclassmen handle how things should be done and it kind of snowballs from there. I give all the credit to the kids.”

OK, enough about Wayne Hills — though I wanted to get them some recognition on here since my story in Sunday’s Record was centered around the DePaul boys team making program history. Let’s move on to Hills’ crosstown rival Wayne Valley. The Indians finished a distant second, but did have the best swimmer in the field — sophomore star Meaghan O’Donnell. Just how good was O’Donnell on Saturday? Her new meet-record 54.10 in the 100 Freestyle would have placed fourth in the boys race. And her 2:09.23 in the 200 IM would have put her in third place in the boys race (it also smashed the previous record by nine seconds). That’s ridiculous. And she’s only a sophomore. It’ll be exciting to see how she fares at this year’s Meet of Champions after taking fifth in the Breaststroke as a freshman last year. A state title could certainly be within reach. She also anchored Wayne Valley’s relay-winning team (with Rebecca Wong, Stephanie Tang and Dana Bacon) in the 200 Free Relay with a 1:48.53.

Talking to O’Donnell for a while after her day was complete, she said her times were “good” but admitted they’ve been better. She then got into swimmer talk and said she didn’t “taper” for Saturday’s event. Unsure of what tapering meant, I asked. Apparently it’s when swimmers practice less yardage and more sprints. Whatever she did, it worked, because when she was swimming, it was impossible for anyone to stop watching. She’s that good. She has a goal of becoming the Passaic County meet record-holder in all eight individual events before she graduates, breaking two each year. She’s halfway there, currently holding the record in the 100 Back, 100 Breast, 200 IM and 100 Free. She admitted she was keeping an eye on Kauffman during the 100 Back Saturday. “That was a close call,” O’Donnell said with a laugh. The two used to be teammates years ago with the Blue Streaks.

Other girls notes: DePaul’s Hannah O’Brien won two events — the 200 Free (2:08.01) and 500 Free (5:41.70). … Clifton’s Christine Gustafson won the 100 Fly (1:05.16). … And I think people should keep an eye on Passaic Tech freshman Toniann Feigel, who finished third in the 200 IM (behind O’Donnell and Kleinfeld) and 100 Free (again, behind O’Donnell and Kleinfeld). … Feigel’s teammate, Iris Santos, who is also a freshman, finished 2nd in the 200 Free and 5th in the 100 Free.

DePaul’s Matt Delaporte had a big day at Saturday’s Passaic County Championships, helping lead the Spartans to their first county title in school history. (CHRIS MONROE/Special to The Record)

Now, I don’t want to get too in-depth with the boys because, really, DePaul cruised to its first county title — boys or girls — in program history and most of that is covered in my story in the paper. There were plenty of stars for the Spartans on Saturday, like Matt Delaporte, who won three events (200 Medley Relay, 500 Free and 400 Free Relay) and took second in the 100 Breast, or Logan Amodio, who also won three events (200 Medley Relay, 200 Free and 400 Free Relay) and took third in the 100 Fly. Others like Ryan Hackett, Michael Presta, Aidan Steinberg and Jake Pontrelli all had their moments, too. DePaul actually won five of the 11 events, while racking up 362 points. Next closest was Wayne Valley, with 277.

I spoke to Delaporte afterward and he said the team always saw the empty swimming banner in the DePaul gymnasium and that has served as motivation. He said it was nice to finally win a championship for the school. Second-year coach JessValdivia, a former swimmer at William Paterson,was overwhelmed afterward, and spoke so highly of this year’s group. She said they were aware of the lack of championships and it was exciting to finally be in position to win one. After losing out on last year’s title to Wayne Valley by a mere eight points, this was a meet the Spartans really wanted. DePaul really dominated the relays, winning all three events, while breaking its own meet record set last year in the 200 Medley with a 1:44.25. But perhaps the highlight of the day came in the 200 Free Relay, when the Spartans were in Lane 6 and absolutely blew away the field by six seconds with a near-record 1:35.73, thanks to Jesse McMullan, Steinberg, Presta and Pontrelli. They beat their seed time by over nine seconds (1:44.89). I overheard Wayne Hills’ coach Mike Shale say, “You don’t see that very often,” when that one went final.

Other boys notes: Really nice day from Wayne Valley’s Reid Hensen. The sophomore won two individual events in the 200 IM (2:03.94) and 100 Breast (1:01.36). His breaststroke time set a new county meet record, breaking Delaporte’s record of 1:03.15 set last year. Both times were new school records as well. … Despite a fifth-place team finish, Wayne Hills’ Michael Sungrov had a nice day individually, winning two events — the 50 Free (23.21) and 100 Free (50.08). He was less than a second off the meet record in the 100 Free, set by Taylor Adams last year (49.10). … Swimming as an individual competitor, Pompton Lakes senior Russell Stoll took first in two events — the 100 Fly (55.27) and 100 Back (53.31). The 100 Fly was one of the closest races of the day, as Stoll edged out Wayne Valley’s John Tudda (55.59) and DePaul’s Logan Amodio (55.88) by .61 seconds. Stoll was within tenths of a second of breaking both county meet records.

And one final note, courtesy of Denise Aronson, head swimming coach at Passaic Tech. Saturday’s county meet was the first year coaches around the county attempted to raise money for Coaches vs. Cancer. All the schools in the county participated by donating water and food, and Passaic Tech swimmers volunteered to run the concession stand. Game Day Sports, a local sporting goods store, donated T-shirts for all coaches to wear Saturday. In total, $500 was raised for the charity. “I was hoping this event could help other coaches and athletes realize the importance of giving back and cultivating a spirit of charity across the different sports,” Aronson said.

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Darren Cooper is from Slidell, La., and is a graduate of Louisiana State University. He covers any North Jersey sport — including soccer, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming and softball — within walking distance of an ice cream parlor.View all of his posts

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